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I watch a lot of baseball on radio. I watch a lot of wrestling on podcasts.

The Fortnite journey begins….

I know I am literally late to the game, but I finally decided that I’m going to pick up the PlayStation 4 controller and give Fortnite the old gamers try. Don’t expect to much from me, because I did try my first round a few nights ago, and had no idea on how to pick up a weapon, or how to use it. I’m going to be in for some long nights.

One of the things that intrigued me about the game, is the open gameplay against 99 other people, trying to be the last player standing. Definitely a long way from the SOCOM nights I had with my buddy Mike, where you worked as team, to take out the other team. I think the most we had was 5 vs. 5 gameplay, on a small little map. Fortnite definitely makes SOCOM look like a kids game, so time to learn the island

Another thing that got my interest for this game, was being able to play as Thanos when you found the Infinity Gauntlet. If I can play as a Marvel Super Hero, I definitely have an interest in this game. Until I found out it was a temporary add on to the game, and I lost my chance.

But than Major League Baseball got involved with the game. There was a video of the Milwaukee Brewers playing Fortnite on the center field scoreboard. Who wouldn’t want to play Fortnite, or any other game, off an MLB scoreboard? Than David Price of the Boston Red Sox was playing the game. So if it’s cool that the Red Sox are playing the game, than I want to do cool stuff too. Until David got a bout of the carpal tunnel on his pitching hand, and started to pitch like shit. Luckily, the Red Sox took away the game, and Price has been pitching like a champ ever since. But a message to David Price, if he ever gets to read this, after the Red Sox win the World Series, and give you Fortnite back, I want to party with you and play Fortnite. Going to start practicing now.

So before I jumped into the game, I have been taking the time to watch people on Twitch play this game. There’s a lot strategies to apply, lots of communication to your teammates, and a whole lot of luck. But out of everyone that I have watched, one of the coolest gamers out there is bluewalker2023. He’s playing Fortnite the way it should be played, play to win while having a good time. He’s not throwing hate at people when he loses. Just brushes it off and plays another round. Than he allows other people to join his squad. Plays as all games should be played. Sit back and have fun. If you happen to be on Twitch, drop that man a follow.

Which now leads to me the dark side of Fortnite, which I have dubbed the digital version of crack. Like most online games, there are sore losers and name calling. The name calling isn’t recommended, but we all have to be tough and brush it off. What gets me now, are the stories with the youngsters and this game. Granted it’s a cool game to play with your friends, but parents are getting some angry kids when you take the game away. It starts with kids who are ignoring their responsibilities, staying up into the long hours of the night, and than can’t get up for school or concentrate while in class. So you do the right thing, and take out the reason that’s causing all this. One parent took the game away from a kid, and the kid started to hit the mother. It’s like we have little crack addicts running around, and the kids will do what they need to do to get their next hit. This scares me a little, because this becomes a case of politicians using video games as a reason for violence, which is a story for another day. But please, set up some rules for your kids. Digital crack is bad, mm’kay.

Witnessed another instance last week, where I went to Gamestop in search of a Funko Pop. A woman walks in, and says she needs $100 of the Fortnite money for her 12 year old son. I laughed under my breath, until she said she just spend $300 last week for Fortnite for her son. That’s when I stopped laughing and just looked at her. Guy behind the counter said “Wow, that’s a lot.” The jaw dropped when she said she already spent over $1,000 on Fortnite stuff overall, and almost seemed like she was proud of it, like she was being a good mom. But that’s not the end. She said her son was mad, because he was playing Fortnite on his PS4, and all his friends had an X-Box One. “How much does an X-Box One cost?” I almost became that Tracy Morgan meme, where he’s constantly shaking his said saying Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope. The guy behind the counter did the right thing and told the lady that he can sell her an X-Box, but he would have to create a new Fortnite account, because the systems won’t allow you to play cross platform, and everything he has now, won’t transfer over to the new account, so he would be starting off new. She did thing about it for a minute, and thankfully did not buy it. I lost a little faith in humanity, and certainly glad she didn’t make that purchase.

But that all leads me back to another reason to want to try Fortnite, and for what looks to be the future of gaming, cross platforming of video game titles. How great would it be to get a game like Fortnite, or Madden, or an adventure game like Diablo or Final Fantasy, and not have to worry what system to get it for? I have friends who play games we both like, but we have it for different systems. I would love to play Fortnite on my PS4, along with my friend who has an X-Box One, while we go and shoot the guy that has the Nintendo Switch. To me, this brings the gaming community closer. Might as well start with the game that can do that now, Fortnite. Currently sucks that the PS4 doesn’t cross platform with any other system, but that gives me enough time to practice while Sony gets their shit together.

But as I said, time to start with the Fortnite madness and let the fun begin. If you see me on the island, have mercy on my soul.